On Feb. 7, 1812, author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.
In 1804 John Deere, the inventor and manufacturer of farming implements, was born in Rutland, Vt.
In 1867 author Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in Lake Pepin, Wis.
In 1870 psychiatrist Alfred Adler was born in Austria.
In 1883 ragtime composer Eubie Blake was born James Hubert Blake in Baltimore.
In 1885 author Sinclair Lewis was born in Sauk Centre, Minn.
In 1964 the Beatles began their first American tour.
In 1971 Swiss women were given the right to vote.
In 1986 President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.
In 1995 Ramzi Yousef, fugitive mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested in Pakistan.
In 1999 Jordan’s King Hussein, 63, died and was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah.
In 2000 magician Doug Henning, 52, died in Los Angeles.
In 2001 singer Dale Evans, 88, died in Apple Valley, Calif.
In 2005 England’s Ellen MacArthur, 28, broke the solo around-the-world sailing record, completing the 26,000-mile circumnavigation after 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds at sea.
